OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
21 
fall in with the seeds, as, if any such matter were taken to the mill, it would absor b and waste the oil. When all 
the seeds have been gathered that will fall out of the poppy-heads by bending them, the heads are cut off, with a 
portion of stalk to each, w T ith a reaping-hook ; and every handful as it is gathered is shaken over a table-cloth 
spread on the ground, in case any seeds should remain in it. These heads tied up in bundles are afterwards hung 
up in the granary with a cloth under them, that the unripe seeds may become dry and drop upon it ; but these 
seeds are very inferior to those of the first harvest. 
When all the seeds are gathered, they are taken to some convenient place, where they are spread out on 
linen for several days to dry, being frequently removed. They are afterwards put into sacks, each standing 
separately, and removed several times from one sack to another for about a fortnight, till they are sufficiently dry 
for taking to the mill. This mill is constructed something like the cider mills of England, and the seeds are 
ground in it by a cylindrical wheel which moves round in a kind of trough, passing over the seeds, and crushing 
them as it rolls along. The trough has one or two little spouts descending from it, through which the oil runs 
as it is expressed from the crushed seeds, into vessels placed to receive it. When the seeds are reduced to a 
mass, or what is called the marc, it is wrapped in clean hair cloths, and taken to the press, where as much oil as 
possible is obtained from it. The marc is then taken to another place, where it is plunged in boiling water, when 
the oil remaining in it rises to the surface, and is skimmed off. This last kind of oil is, however, considered very 
inferior to that which flows from the seeds when they are being ground, or pressed. 
The oil thus obtained is used extensively on the continent for mixing with olive oil, and it is frequently sold, 
without any mixture, instead of it. The inferior kind is used in making soap, and for mixing with different kinds 
of scent by the perfumers. A prejudice existed some time since in France against this oil, from an apprehension 
that the seeds partook of the narcotic properties of the juice of the plant, and the government issued an edict for¬ 
bidding any grocers or oilmen to keep oil of poppies, unless it was mixed with spirits of turpentine, so as to 
render it unfit for human food. The consequence of this injudicious regulation was, that the French farmers could 
get no sale for their oil of poppies while they called it by its true name; while those who were not so scrupulous, 
and called it oil of olives, found a ready market. It has been calculated that the olives grown for oil do not 
yield above a fourth of the oil sold as olive oil in Europe, the remaining quantity being oil of poppies, and purified 
oils of beech, rape, turnip seed, walnut, &c. Some of these oils are mixed with clarified fresh butter to make 
them more like olive oil. Of all the substitutes for olive oil, oil of poppies is undoubtedly the best, and by far 
the least injurious to the stomach. The poppy oil is known by the name of Huile tT millets in commerce. 
In Italy, Germany, and Poland, the seeds of poppies are used in confectionary. In Italy, they are made into 
a kind of sugar-plum, like what we call carraway comfits. In Germany they are boiled in milk, and eaten in 
this state like sago, which they very much resemble, or made into a kind of open tart. In Poland they make a 
thick porridge of the meal of buck-wheat, and strew poppy seeds over it. The ancient Greeks used these seeds 
as an article of food ; and the Romans made a kind of cake of them mixed with honey and flour, exactly similar 
to what is made of them in some parts of France at the present time. They contain a great deal of mucilage, and 
are not only agreeable to the taste, but very nourishing. The seed of the poppy in England, is principally used 
for feeding birds, and it is sold in the shops for that purpose under the name of maw-seed. It is used in Germany 
principally for feeding nightingales; and it forms the principal part of that celebrated composition for singing 
birds, called German paste. 
